Reuters reported that Asian shares advanced on Thursday on news the Trump administration has reached out to China for a new round of trade talks, which raised hopes for a deal easing the bitter tariff dispute between the world's two biggest economies. It was reported that MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 percent, a day after it hit 14-month lows.

At Bursa Malaysia, the KLCI closed at 1,792.6 after falling to its intraday low at 1,777.45. Yesterday, the KLCI fell 13.92 points.

Today, Vincent Khoo, head of research for Malaysia at UOB Kay Hian said: “I think the local market will continue to be squeezed by external sentiment." Khoo noted that the KLCI's recovery followed the direction of regional peers.